Boeing Says 787 Safe as Ethiopian Airlines Resumes Flights

A Boeing Co. 787 Dreamliner aircraft operated by All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA), left, approaches to land after a test flight as other 787 Dreamliner aircraft stands parked at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner, which
resumed flights after a more than three-month hiatus, is safe
even while the cause of a battery defect remains uncertain, the
aircraft manufacturer said.

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise made the first 787 flight
since the grounding today, traveling from Addis Ababa to
Nairobi. ANA Holdings Inc., the world’s largest operator of the
Dreamliner planes, aims to have a test flight tomorrow. The
planes have been prevented from flying worldwide since Jan. 16
after lithium-ion batteries on two separate planes overheated
and melted, leading to the longest grounding of a large
commercial aircraft by U.S. and Japan regulators since jets were
introduced in the 1950s.

Boeing won approval from the FAA for the 787’s redesigned
battery system last week. Stress testing showed temperatures in
the new structure dropped quickly after reaching a maximum of
130 degrees Celsius (266 degrees Fahrenheit), compared with 300
degrees Celsius sustained for 30 minutes previously, Mike
Sinnett, vice president and chief project engineer of the 787
program, told reporters in Tokyo today.

“Even if we never know the root cause, the enclosure keeps
airplanes safe, and eliminates the possibility of fire,” Sinnet
said. “I can’t comment on the root cause because the
investigation is ongoing.”

ANA, JAL

The Japanese government also approved the restart of 787
flights, the Transport Ministry said yesterday. The permission
will be for all flights, including test and commercial services,
according to Shigeru Takano, a director at the ministry’s Civil
Aviation Bureau.

Boeing has about 300 personnel on 10 teams to install the
fix on airlines. Tokyo-based ANA, with 17 Dreamliners, started
repairs earlier this week on five of its planes at four airports
around Japan, according to Ryosei Nomura, a spokesman. Japan
Airlines Co. also started upgrading the batteries, Hisanori
Iizuka, a spokesman at the carrier, said yesterday.

“We are excited to resume our service with the Dreamliners,”
Gebremariam said in a statement.

Cause Undetermined

Chicago-based Boeing’s reworked battery includes more
protection around the cells to contain overheating, a steel case
to prevent any fire from spreading and a tube that vents fumes
outside the fuselage. ANA and JAL additionally have put in place
a system to monitor the batteries during flights and transmit
data to the ground, the carrier said yesterday.

The cost for replacing the battery will be about $465,000 a
plane in the U.S., according to the FAA and the fix adds about
150 pounds of weight to a 787.

Neither the FAA nor the NTSB has determined what caused the
battery faults that sparked a Jan. 7 fire on a JAL 787 in Boston
and forced an emergency landing by an ANA jet in Japan nine days
later.

ANA fell 0.5 percent to 209 yen at close of Tokyo trading
yesterday, while Japan Airlines, the second biggest, gained 3.6
percent to 4,750 yen. Boeing rose 1.3 percent to $92.85 in New
York trading yesterday.

The Dreamliner is the only large commercial jet equipped
with lithium-ion batteries as part of its power system. GS Yuasa
Corp. makes the batteries, which are part of an electrical power
conversion system built by France’s Thales SA. United
Technologies Corp.’s aerospace unit supplies the system, which
uses enough electricity to power 400 homes.

Airbus SAS abandoned lithium-ion batteries for its A350,
the direct rival to the 787, after Boeing encountered problems.
Airbus plans its first A350 deliveries next year.